Our excursion today was to the city of Cordoba. This meant a bus ride of about two hours. We got off to a late start because the bus driver went to the wrong place. Lucia was not happy and had quite a phone conversation with the driver. The bus finally showed up, but then one of our group was missing. You know that kids game, Where’s Waldo? Our group has played, Where’s Mano, all week because she was usually the last person to arrive and the last person trailing along in the group.
We were in a mini-bus that seated about 24. Christine moved to the back of the bus where there were 5 seats across and the middle one was in the aisle so she could stretch out her legs. She’s not feeling very well and continues with a persistent cough.
It was interesting seeing some of the city of Sevilla as we departed. For the most part, we’ve been in a relatively small area around the cathedral and Alcazar, so we saw more of the city from the bus. Then we were quickly out into the countryside and enjoyed seeing the olive and citrus groves. And we now know that wheat is also a big crop as we saw loads of wheat fields.
I thought the U.S. had some bad roads, but so does Spain. Although we were on a highway, the road condition in some areas was very bad and the bus bumped along. I was sitting in the back with Christine and we’d get bumped up into the air several times, triggering my sciatica. I couldn’t take that and had to move forward into a seat further up the bus.
As we arrived in Cordoba, the bus driver didn’t know how to get to the place we would be touring so we went the wrong way for a bit and had to back track. Lucia was not happy and after we got off the bus she let loose with a very animated commentary on incompetency in doing one’s job. At any rate, we arrived at the famous Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, an absolutely spectacular site.
As we disembarked from the bus, we jointed hundreds of other people making their way across the Roman bridge to the mosque-cathedral. Lucia said she had never seen it so crowded so it was difficult to really enjoy the crossing of the bridge and the entrance into the historic site. However, just prior to entering the bridge, we had some great views of the mosque-cathedral and bridge.
The original bridge was built by the Romans in the 1st century BC. The Arabs rebuilt the bridge in the 8th century. At the entrance to the bridge is the Calahorra Tower, an Islamic edifice constructed to protect the Roman bridge which was the only river crossing. The river is the Guadalquivir, the same river flowing through Sevilla.
Once across the river, you enter through the Puerta del Puente, which is a Renaissance gate built in the 16th century. As I said, lots of people were entering this place.
Of course, the first thing we needed was a pit stop, so Lucia took us to a gift shop that had a bathroom. With 12 in the group, these pit stops, while important, take some time. But once everyone was back, we met up with our guide Jenny, who took us into the mosque-cathedral. She was quite overwhelmed by the number of people and as large groups with guides would tramp by, she’d say, “momma mia.” She did a great job, however, of shepherding us to more quiet areas so she could educate us about this magnificent structure.
It is believed that the mosque was built on the site of a Visigoth Christian church from the mid-6th century. The Visigoth church was built on the site of a Roman temple. What we’ve learned from our guides is that location is the preeminent factor in constructing these great monuments. That’s why so many churches are built on the sites of older ruins, because the location is significant. When the Muslims arrived in Iberia in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, they lived along side of the Visigoths in a divided territory. The original mosque was built in 786 in response to the growing population. And, as the population continued to grow, as did Muslim prosperity, the mosque was expanded several more times. The final enlargement came in 951 which enlarged the space into a rectangle of 130 by 180 meters which is about 426 feet by 590 feet. To put that into perspective, the average football field is 150 feet by 360 feet, so, the great hall is a lot larger than a football field. The enlarged mosque had 1,013 columns throughout the structure, and this is the first “wow” factor upon entering the mosque.
You couldn’t really believe your eyes with all the columns and arches everywhere you looked. The columns were made of various substances including marble, granite, alabaster and each of the capitals (column tops) were different. That’s because the columns were from other structures and reused in this great hall.
The focal point in the mosque is the mihrab, used in a mosque to identify the wall that faces Mecca, the birthplace of Mohamed. However, in this mosque, the mihrab faces Damascus. I think this is a precursor to the Sunni vs. Shia conflicts in Islam. When the great mosque was constructed, the Umyyad dynasty came from Syria. Gold tesserae (small pieces of glass with gold and color backing) create a dazzling combination of dark blues, reddish browns, yellows and golds that form intricate calligraphic bands and vegetal motifs that adorn the arch. The domed ceiling over the mihrab was stunning.
With the conquest of the Muslims in 1236, the Catholic invaders consecrated the mosque as a Catholic church. All of the naves in the mosque were turned into chapels. It’s so interesting to see the horseshoe striped arches around Catholic altars and iconography.
In 1489, the Catholics started building a Gothic-style main chapel and a cross-shaped transept of a new cathedral. So essentially, right in the middle of the mosque, a Catholic cathedral was built. This is a graphic from a brochure showing where the cathedral was built in the mosque.
The architect used imaginative ways to combine Gothic and Arabic designs and decorations throughout the cathedral. It is a most fascinating visual effect.
The main altar is beautiful.
What was more beautiful is the organ area and choir loft. The entire area is carved mahogany and the ceiling was just beautiful.
After the mosque-cathedral tour, we went out into the courtyard, the original area of absolution for Muslims before entering the mosque. The courtyard remains nearly unchanged and is full of citrus trees. There is also an olive tree, still living, that was planted in the early 1700s. Two group members, Mike and Rosalinda, are standing in front of the old olive tree.
From the courtyard, we also got a view of the minaret that was turned into a bell tower by the Catholics. It looks very much like the one at the cathedral in Sevilla.
We then went on a tour of the Jewish ghetto, which was not so nice because the streets were so narrow and packed with people. Down these narrow streets, that had about 6 inches of sidewalk, came horse-drawn carriages. With the driver ringing bells, everyone had to jump out of the street onto the little sidewalk. Jenny, our guide, would exclaim, “momma mia, tourism by adventure.” She wasn’t at all happy about the crowds.
We did stop into the oldest synagogue which was interesting in that it was created during Christian rule, built by Muslims in the Mudejar style, for Jewish worship. At some point, Christians used the space for worship so the shadow of a cross can be seen, but it was converted back to a synagogue. Our guide said there are only 3 synagogues in all of Spain with only a few hundred Jews living in Spain.
I mentioned that during the Muslim golden age, cataract surgery was invented. We saw a bust of the man who did the inventing, Mohamed Al-Gafequi. We also saw a statue of Maimonides, a Sephartic rabbi and scholar during the Middle Ages who was born in Cordoba.
We then went to a restaurant for lunch and had a really yummy cold tomato soup and an oxtail entree with fries. I don’t think I’ve ever had oxtail before. One big vertebra and very tasty meat. The fries were good to soak up the broth from the oxtail entree. Here’s all but 2 (besides me) of our group with Lucia in the Oslo T-shirt.
Then it was back to the bus for the two hour trip back to Sevilla. Some in the group were meeting for drinks and dinner later, but we we’re tired and decided to do our own thing, which was resting and then going for gelato. We had a nice walk and found a good shop for gelato.
We ended the day again very tired but happy. I was thrilled with our visit to the mosque-cathedral, despite the crowds. I thought it was such an amazing place. There certainly is no other mosque-cathedral in the world, so I feel blessed to have gotten to see it.
Christine, other than being tired, is feeling a bit better. The cough syrup Lucia got for her seems to help a great deal. I walked over to a supermarket to see if I could find some throat lozenges. That was successful and I got her menthol and mint lozenges.
Tomorrow is a tour of a Roman city, Italica. It’s supposed to be 90+ tomorrow so we’re all kind of dreading traipsing around outside looking at Roman ruins. We’ll see what happens.